diff --git a/Documentation/cpu-hotplug.txt b/Documentation/cpu-hotplug.txt
index 9f40135..7b3ca60 100644
--- a/Documentation/cpu-hotplug.txt
+++ b/Documentation/cpu-hotplug.txt
@@ -113,13 +113,18 @@ Never use anything other than cpumask_t to represent bitmap of CPUs.
#include
get_online_cpus() and put_online_cpus():
-The above calls are used to inhibit cpu hotplug operations. While the
+The above calls are used to inhibit cpu hotplug operations, when invoked from
+non-atomic contexts (because the above functions can sleep). While the
cpu_hotplug.refcount is non zero, the cpu_online_mask will not change.
-If you merely need to avoid cpus going away, you could also use
-preempt_disable() and preempt_enable() for those sections.
-Just remember the critical section cannot call any
-function that can sleep or schedule this process away. The preempt_disable()
-will work as long as stop_machine_run() is used to take a cpu down.
+
+However, if you are executing in atomic context (ie., you can't afford to
+sleep), and you merely need to avoid cpus going offline, you can use
+get_online_cpus_atomic() and put_online_cpus_atomic() for those sections.
+Just remember the critical section cannot call any function that can sleep or
+schedule this process away. Using preempt_disable() will also work, as long
+as stop_machine() is used to take a CPU down. But we are going to get rid of
+stop_machine() in the CPU offline path soon, so it is strongly recommended
+to use the APIs mentioned above.
CPU Hotplug - Frequently Asked Questions.
@@ -360,6 +365,9 @@ A: There are two ways. If your code can be run in interrupt context, use
return err;
}
+ If my_func_on_cpu() itself cannot block, use get/put_online_cpus_atomic()
+ instead of get/put_online_cpus(), to prevent CPUs from going offline.
+
Q: How do we determine how many CPUs are available for hotplug.
A: There is no clear spec defined way from ACPI that can give us that
information today. Based on some input from Natalie of Unisys,